Photo courtesy Purina.
Photo courtesy Purina.
Photo courtesy Purina.
Photo courtesy Purina.
Photo courtesy Purina.
Photo courtesy Purina.
Construction Update
Though the exterior of the new Purina dry pet food facility has largely taken shape from the outside, there is a lot of activity inside the walls of the 1.3 million square foot property.
The new dry pet food facility in Williamsburg Township is the first project Purina has constructed from the ground up since 1975, providing the opportunity to equip the facility with the best innovation and thinking to make production and logistics as streamlined and efficient as possible.
There may be no greater representation of that than the automated warehousing system being constructed on-site. Conveyers were recently installed inside the more than 10-story structure, with more equipment installation, fitting and testing on the near horizon. There are also several digital and automated technologies being incorporated into the production process to protect our people and products.
A signature feature of the new facility will be the Manufacturing Experience Center, which is being designed to help educate local leaders, community partners and special visitors on Purina’s manufacturing process. The space will be used to help demystify manufacturing and showcase the various skilled trades and digital-focused practices embraced in today’s processes.
The exterior of the facility rose up in Clermont County using a staggering volume of materials including:
· 23,000 yards (or 2,875 truck loads of concrete);
· Nearly 82,000 total feet of pipe (equaling 15 total miles);
· 351,000 tons of stone (equal to 14,000 semi-truck loads);
· 3,600 geo piers installed;
· 13,800 tons of structural steel (less than total combined structural steel in Cincinnati’s tallest building – Great America Tower – and Paycor Stadium, home of the Bengals; total structural steel for those two projects is 14,900 tons)
Hiring Progress
The local Purina team in Williamsburg Township is growing by the day. Currently, there are 50 local associates with plans to post 40-50 new positions over the next few weeks and add a few hundred additional positions by the end of the year.
Project Timeline
Current timeline projections lead us to expect our facility to be fully operational in the next 12 months. We’ll have more information on grand opening plans and festivities as we continue progressing on the critical next steps in the construction process.
Community Impact
Purina donates to Williamsburg Township Emergency Services
Purina recently announced a major gift to support the Emergency Services of Williamsburg Township. The $237,000+ donation will be used to enhance the department’s operations and response capabilities, as well as ongoing training, to support the community.
The opportunity for Purina and Williamsburg Township to partner was realized after several safety meetings, which identified elements of the factory operations that would require enhancements to the Emergency Response department’s equipment. Representatives from the local fire department will participate in relevant training programs to become adept at handling the new pieces and to become better acquainted with techniques like rope rescue, confined spaces, and grain bin rescue. Courses will be led by state-certified instructors. Key pieces of new equipment include high angle rope rescue life safety equipment, thermal imaging cameras, multi-gas detectors, extrication devices, push/pull rams, and telescopic ram devices.